The article references a study trying to figure out the gene(s) that causes the variations between people on different continents. This particular study looked at the EDAR gene. According to the article, “Africans and Europeans carry the standard version of the gene, but in most East Asians, one of the DNA units has mutated.”

A team of researchers at the Broad Institute mutated the EDAR gene in mice to resemble that of East Asians and found that indeed the mice had thicker hair shafts, more sweat glands, distinctively shaped teeth, and less breast tissue.

There seems to be a lot of debate about why EDAR gene mutated 35,000 years ago. Some people believe it is because of environmental factors and others natural selection. If you’re interested in reading some of various theories, check out the article.

What I find most interesting is that in all of my research on race and body parts (see my past articles about penis size, testicles, butts, vaginas, and of course, breasts) is that most books/scientific articles/websites/researchers have said that there is NO correlation between body parts and race. In fact, one scientist told me there is no such thing as race itself. This article seems to contradict all of that. This article is saying that there IS a correlation.

Being that I’m NOT a scientist (unless you consider a screenwriter a scientist) I can’t really offer my opinion one way or another. But I am curious, who’s right? Do I really have thicker hair shafts than my non-East Asian counterparts? What does that really mean? And most importantly, can I blame the sweaty under arms on my race instead of being nervous?

Categories:

NOTE: 8Asians.com is a community, and we thank you for being a part of it. While we welcome and appreciate differences in opinion, if you're rude or you're promoting spam, we have a right to edit or delete your comment. Read our comment policy for more information.

If you see a comment that violates the 8Asians.com comment policy, you may flag the comment by mousing over the comment and clicking "FLAG."

Facebook Comments (Beta)

pzed

There’s a good deal of research that says different human populations have genes that differentiate them phenotypically from other populations. The scientific community is split on whether the concept of race is valid, but there’s a good portion of geneticists that would say the conventional understanding of race isn’t far off from reality as you can basically use “human populations” and “race” interchangeably.

Nicholas Wade has several other articles, if you care to read them, that talk about the cutting edge of genetics research and how they relate to our conceptions of race.

I think at our next 8Asians get together, we should compare the thickness of our hair shafts.

And on a completely unrelated note, how come none of the 8Asians ever want to hang out?

EastAsianNationalist

The thicker hair shaft thing is 100% true in my experience. From Asian -> White -> Black we have thicker individual hairs, but not as densely spaced as the other races.

hkfun

I’m no scientist either, and I’m white not Asian, but I’ve found that whenever I go to an Asian hairdresser they always tell me that my hair is so thin/fine compared to their Asian customers. So makes sense to me.

STW

The concept of race (traits) is VALID. But the concept of whether one race (certain traits) is more superior is an oxymoron. People are afraid that if they accept the concept of race, they will eventually have to decide which one is more superior. But that doesn’t have to be the case. I mean, polar bear is superior in the arctic, but I bet they can’t survive in SEA jungles. Everybody knows that. But yet, people can’t seem to transfer their understanding of traits in the animal world to human world. That is quite bizarre.

iko: STFU mikey STORMloq, the same garbage that is found in STOMRfront. Aren't you yourself doing the same "...making subjective statements about your own ethnicity, just... – What Do White Supremacists Think of Asians?